Iraq starts operation to drive Islamic State from Anbar

Iraqi soldiers vastly outnumbered the IS militants in Ramadi, but still withdrew

Iraqi government forces have formally launched an operation to drive Islamic State (IS) out of Anbar province.

The announcement was made by a spokesman for the Popular Mobilisation (al-Hashd al-Shaabi), a volunteer force comprising dozens of Shia militias.

The operation would see troops and militiamen move southwards from Salahuddin province and seek to cut off IS militants in Ramadi, he said.

The city fell to the jihadists earlier this month after Iraq’s army withdrew.

Since then government forces have been massing for a counter-attack, and they say they have regained some ground east of Ramadi in the past few days.

The offensive has been welcomed by the Americans, with Vice-President Joe Biden pledging full US support, the BBC’s defence correspondent Jonathan Marcus says.

But he adds that Washington remains uneasy about the prominent role of Shia fighters, many of whom are backed by Iran.

‘New weapons’

The Popular Mobilisation’s spokesman, Ahmed al-Assadi, told a televised news conference that the operation to regain control of Anbar would be called “Labayk ya Hussein” (“At your service, O Hussein”) – a reference to a revered Shia imam.

He said the operation would “not last for a long time” and that new weapons would be used in the battle that would “surprise the enemy”.

Mr Assadi separately told the AFP news agency that a mix of security forces and paramilitaries would move into desert areas north-east of Ramadi, before encircling the city and preparing to retake it.

Analysis: John Simpson, BBC world affairs editor, Baghdad

Islamic State is extremely good at public relations. It generates admiration and fear with each of the videos it issues – 360 within the last year, just about one a day.

The terror it generates through its gruesome execution videos does a great deal of its work for it. And people around the world believe that it is indeed carrying all before it.

Islamic State’s propaganda has helped it win several battles

By contrast, the Iraqi government has not been particularly effective at public relations. It has often been slow at telling people of its achievements, and foreign journalists in Baghdad sometimes have problems trying to find out what the forces are doing and how they are succeeding.

The result is that there has been real scepticism internationally about the Iraqi government’s claims to be pushing IS back on almost all fronts.

When the Prime Minister, Haider al-Abadi, told the BBC that his forces would recapture Ramadi within days, there was widespread disbelief; even though Western diplomats in Baghdad have been forecasting very much the same thing.

In an interview with the BBC on Monday, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Ramadi might be recaptured “within days”.

Mr Abadi also defended the decision of the 1,500 soldiers who had reportedly been stationed in the city to flee in the face of an assault by as few as 150 militants.

He explained that the soldiers had been fazed by Islamic State’s shock tactics and did not lack the will to fight, as alleged by US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter.

“I am sure he [Mr Carter] was fed with the wrong information”.

“They have the will to fight but when they are faced with an onslaught by [IS] from nowhere… with armoured trucks packed with explosives, the effect of them [being blown up] is like a small nuclear bomb – it gives a very, very bad effect on our forces,” he added.